Manziel to play in Texas Spring League

Whether it was his ap­pear­ance on Good Morn­ing Amer­ica or his foray into the Spring League, the for­mer Heis­man Tro­phy win­ner who played at Texas A&M is mak­ing all ef­forts to re­ha­bil­i­tate his im­age in a des­per­ate bid to get back into the NFL.

His CFL rights be­long to Hamil­ton, but no one ex­pects Manziel to suit up for the Tiger-Cats, who con­tinue to go about their nor­mal busi­ness.

The Ti­cats is­sued a state­ment: “We wish Johnny Manziel well as he em­barks upon a re­turn to foot­ball.”

Manziel’s agent, Erik Burkhardt, is­sued a state­ment to Pro Foot­ball Talk: “Teams want to see him in shape and with pads on play­ing again. So that’s what they’re go­ing to get. Will­ing to start comeback from the very bot­tom.”

The Spring League was hatched last sea­son, a three-week scout­ing de­vel­op­men­tal camp based in Austin, Texas.

“We’re ex­cited to have such a dy­namic player in Johnny Manziel tak­ing part in the Spring League,” the camp’s CEO Brian Woods said in a state­ment to Bleacher Re­port. “We be­lieve our plat­form is the ideal fo­rum for Mr. Manziel to en­act his NFL comeback.”

McLeod Bethel-Thompson, a tall, big-armed quar­ter­back who played for the Toronto Arg­onauts last sea­son, played in the Spring League, as did Ti­cats re­ceiver Jalen Saun­ders.

“The Spring League has pro­vided me with a great op­por­tu­nity to play ball again, and ul­ti­mately, that is all I want to do,” Manziel said in a state­ment to Bleacher Re­port. “I miss the com­pe­ti­tion. I’d like to thank Brian Woods and the Spring League staff for this op­por­tu­nity to play the game I love. I’ve made my share of mis­takes, but I’m 25 years old and I know my best foot­ball is ahead of me.”